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What's Missing from Your Manufacturing Marketing Strategy?

A comprehensive marketing strategy is a must for any business. To ensure your manufacturing firm stands out from the noise in an overpopulated industry, your strategy needs to cover all areas. Are you missing any key manufacturing marketing elements from your campaign? Read on to find out…Do You Address Software Stack Selection In Your Marketing Strategy? Over the past few years, the sales and marketing technology industry has boomed. There are now thousands of different software solutions for businesses to take advantage of. This has become a bit of a double-ended sword. While it’s great that there are so many options, it is also somewhat overwhelming and finding the right one for your manufacturing company can seem daunting. The truth is that only a personalized software stack will do, and so using a combination of a number of solutions is often the best way to go. This still requires a thorough and documented selection process. Have You Created An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)? This is one area that a lot of manufacturing business owners tend to overlook. However, buyer personas are critical to the success of your marketing campaign. You need to try and envision the type of people that are going to buy from your firm. How much do they know about you? What is their buying process likely to entail? By getting to know your ideal customer profile better, you will be better placed to appeal to them and ensure that the buying journey you create is right for their needs. To create buyer personas, you need to ask yourself questions like… How big is their company? What is their educational background? Do they possess a specialized skill set? What does an average day at work look like? These types of questions will enable you to build up a clear picture regarding what your most likely buyers are like, and so you can tailor your marketing campaign accordingly. Do You Have A Current Marketing Report? If you do not have a current marketing report, how do you ever expect your manufacturing firm to progress? A current marketing report will assess your existing approach to gaining new leads and customers. It will answer key questions about your marketing activities. For example, what is your current reach? Has it been growing at a healthy rate? It will also track your website visitors, how many clients have been gained from specific marketing campaigns, and where your leads are generated from so you can determine the most efficient producing channels. Do You Assess The Competition And The Marketing Activities Of Other Businesses? While you should never copy the competition, it is important to be aware of what they are doing. This will help you to determine what does and does not work. You can also spot opportunities that will help your manufacturing firm to stand out from the rest. One other way to look at it is to think about what entices you when buying from a supplier. When you buy stepper motors for your machinery, what do you consider? Do you opt for a firm that looks trustworthy and has a good industry reputation? Do you simply select based on the feel and the design of the website? Maybe it was the content the company put together about the motors, which left you feeling like you did not have any questions. Think about what made you feel so compelled to purchase something, and convert this into something useful for your own manufacturing firm. Have You Humanized The Brand? There is no denying that humanizing a manufacturing brand is not exactly easy. Nonetheless, it is a powerful way to edge out the competition, and so it’s certainly something that should be incorporated into your marketing strategy. Customers want conversation and value – they want to engage with brands. They don’t want to be diverted to the corporate and cold manufacturing websites that are flooding the Internet today. People like to know whom they are doing business with. Have You Included A Situational Analysis In Your Strategy? Finally, you have probably heard of an S.W.O.T analysis before. It is important to prepare one of these as part of your marketing campaign. For those who are unaware, an S.W.O.T analysis simply involves evaluating four key areas of your business – your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The latter are external while weaknesses and strengths are internal to your business. Your strengths should be in regards to your product superiority and the services you provide. This is also a good idea to address weaknesses and come up with effective solutions so that you can move forward.